So I'm looking at the moon phases this year for the middle of Sep for opening day(15th). It is going to be a half moon and the rise time is scheduled for 1150pm the night of the 14th and setting at 2pm the 15, then rising again the 16th at 1210 am. So I was thinking that morning hunting may be a little risky the 15th cause chances are they may already be out eating under the moon when I would be getting out there, but that evening may be decent due to the late moon rising time. There is a new moon scheduled for the week of the 20th. I like hunting a no moon cause they don't get hardly any light with a new moon(.03%). How may of you use the moon to your advantage when hunting and use the seers natural cycle and light use age to your advantage? My trail cams have had a huge increase of night photos as of recently due to the moon being full and very few day photos, and in late Jul when there was a new moon they were out all hours of the day time.
It is something I have recently started to research and noticed the same thing as you have in correlation to the new moon in late July.
It is one of a number of things I look at to determine "better" days to hunt. I hunt when I can, but all things equal, I'll choose the better lunar day. I use the Hunting Calendar Lite app.
I won't let the moon phase dictate whether I will hunt or not. I look at it, as a reference on a daily basis during the season. But that's about as far as it goes for me
I don't let it affect when I hunt, however I do pay attention to what phase the moon is currently in, but more importantly I am more interested in when it is setting and rising in relation to the sunrise and sunset.
I agree with all of you that said the weather dictates your hunting but I think if you could incorporate the moon rise and set time and/or the phase with the weather it could be extremely helpful too. The deer use the moon a lot.
Became a true believer in this when I started musky fishing. Watching when you could get moonrise/set to be as close as possible to sunrise/sunset.....thats the hot time for game movement.
I hunt when I can, however the moon does dictate where I hunt. I have certain stands that in full moon light I can't get to without getting busted.
To me guys that write off moon phases and their effect on deer simply haven't paid attention to it as much as other things. -Weather Fronts and Conditions -Wind -Moon -Food/water conditions and sources -Breeding season The 5 things I strive to document and track because each and every one of them dictate movement for the whitetail deer. Some override others at times...but all impact movement in everything I've witnessed.
Been hunting the same property for over 25 years. I hunt a lot of days and 1/2 days through out a 100+ day season. I don't doubt the studies that have been done as being statistically accurate, but in my neck of the woods I have found zero correlation. I don't hunt midday so maybe there is a difference for that timeframe, but dawn/ dusk...moon phase is irrevelant for me based on numerous observations over many years, JMHO.
Well my main season starts later than yours but I've always believed that the rise/set times are as important(if not more) than the actual phase of the moon. So I'm looking at about the same scenario just a month later. Roughly Oct 20-27th look interesting to me because you have a new moon which means dark nights and also if you look at the moon rise/set times the moon will be rising in the morning and setting in the evening so those two things combined = almost 0 light at night for that week which I hope leads to better morning and evening hunts. fwiw some studies have shown that exposure to dark increases melatonin output in whitetails which can trigger a spike in reproductive activity and exposure to light (i.e. full moon)can have the opposite effect.
I use an app called Time2Hunt Lite and it factors sun/moon rise, moon phase, and says how good the day is and what time of the day is best for hunting. BUT, nothing really keeps me from hunting, I love to be in the tree stand whenever I can.
If anyone keeps a hunting log you may want to check and see how 2006 was as far as sightings, movement, trail cams. While it(moon phase) doesn't repeat exactly it does repeat about every 8 years within a day or two and the rise/set times are also fairly close(I think it's actually like 8.8 years). For example Oct. 22, 2006 was a new moon that rose at 0625 and set 1720 which put the moon directly overhead at about 1155. This year Oct. 24, 2014 is a new moon with the moon rising at 0702 and setting at 1757 which puts it overhead at roughly 0032. in VA
For the past 2 1/2 years I have been using the moon times, phase and weather to determine my hunting times. Trail cams show the deer acting differently prior to, during and after a weather front, but they also show you that depending on the moon times and phase that they act differently too.
